Interested in blogging for timesofindia.com? We will be happy to have you on board as a blogger, if you have the knack for writing. Just drop in a mail at toiblogs@timesinternet.in with a brief bio and we will get in touch with you.

Home verse ‘watnon door’: How poetry dominates Punjabi diaspora literature while nostalgia is its leitmotif

They are not just sending remittances back home or trying to influence politics here. The experiences of the Punjabi diaspora have given birth to a genre of “Parvasi (diaspora) literature”. Recognizing the contribution of the Punjabis abroad, the Punjabi literature and Languages Department Punjab has in fact instituted an exclusive award for this section called Parvasi Punjabi Sahitkar.

“Now two genres can never be deducted from the Punjabi literature ­ Pakistani Punjabi literature and Paravsi (diaspora) Punjabi literature,” says Dr S P Singh, former vice-chancellor Guru Nanak Dev University, who had organized the first conference of diaspora Punjabi writers in 1987 and started a serious discussion in the academic circles about the diaspora Punjabi literature.

Poetry has dominated the NRI writings from the start. The first Punjabi publication abroad was more of a journalistic endeavor in the form of Ghadar Gunjaan, the newspaper started by Ghadar Party, but it also carried patriotic poems. “The real literary Punjabi writing started first in UK in the 1960s as Punjabis began emigrating there. Initially, it was more a manifestation of nostalgia coming out through poems and short stories, but gave way to the angst of racial discrimination.This phase was followed by the depiction of cultural crisis as a result of children growing up in an entirely different culture in which religious or caste identities melted away . The first generation immigrants had the feeling that their children were going away from their culture,” says Dr Singh.Swaran Chandan’s novel Aapne Guache (Ours Lost), a story of a Jat Sikh boy having an affair with a Dalit Punjabi girl there and defying the caste code, exemplified this. “After UK, Punjabi writers from the US emerged on the Parvasi literary scene, but now those from Canada have a predominant presence even as some from Kenya, Thailand and other countries are contributing to the genre,” he added.

A Punjabi magazine Watnon Door (Away from own country) started in Canada in late eighties changed its name to Watan (country), symbolizing the dawn of reality that Canada was now their coun try and they should not feel strangers. “It was during this phase that one of its literary contributors and investors Ujjal Doasanjh got into active politics in Canada and rose to become premier of British Columbia,” recalls Dr Singh, who was also instrumental in setting up a Research Centre on diaspora literature with UGC help.

In fact, Punjabis abroad also helped in bringing out Punjabi magazines back home and a prominent literary magazine “Hun” was started by a UK-based Punjabi Harbaksh Maqsoodpuri and it still has NRI patrons.

“Though Punjabi writers abroad have come out with short stories, essays and novels, now poetry is back in trend. Another shift is that the earlier `Left impression’ in the orientation and writings of Parvasi writers is on the wane,” says Dr Lakhwinder Johal, who did his PhD on Bartanavi Punjabi Kavita ­ Sabhiacharak Tanao de Pasaar (Expansion of Cultural Tensions in Punjabi Poetry from UK). “But now their priorities, concerns have changed. Earlier they resembled the train passengers who would sit with their faces facing the rear and look at what they were leaving behind, but now they are looking ahead,“ he says.“If poets like Amarjit Chandan, Jagtar Dhah and Varinder Parhar are continuing with their contributions, new generation poets like Mohhinder Gill and Dalbir Kaur have emerged in the last few years,“ he says.

However, poet Satnam Chana, who has written about issues of Punjabi diaspora and their contribution back home, says that the dominating character of the writing is pegged on nostalgia and more has to be written about the new cultural synthesis taking place there.

Tracking the contemporary trends, Dr Ravinder Singh, associate professor of Dyal Singh College in Delhi in his paper “Punjabi Diaspora Literature and Contemporary Concerns” notes that British Indian Punjabi writer Harjit Atwal, in his novel ‘Southall’ tackles the new problems of contemporary Punjabi society dealing with the sensitive issue of honour killing and the emerging mind set of the next generation. “Ajmer Rode in his play `Nirlajj’ has unraveled the disgraceful deeds of Punjabi society living abroad in a liberalized western society ,” while exposing the trend of `female foeticide’ and attacked the Punjabi mind set and its ingrained gender discrimination.

The diaspora Punjabi writing is contextualising the recent challenges and dilemmas of the community in the contemporary events of terrorism. USbased Punjabi writers Jagjit Brar in his story “Jhhande Di Meil“, Harbhajan Singh’s ‘Ground Zero’, Karam Singh Mann’s ‘Fence’, Rani Nagendar’s ‘Curfew’ explored different aspects of issues of identity, racial discrimination and `eastern and western’ conflicts. Canadian Punjabi writer Jarnail Singh based his story `Towers’ on the tragedy of World Trade Towers.

However, UKbased poet Amarjit Chandan, who does not like to be bracketed with “diaspora writers” says, “There is nothing substantial in the so-called disapora literature written in Punjabi.Vanity publishing has produced several hundred books, but only a handful of writers like late Sati Kumar (Sweden), Navtej Bharti and Ajmer Rode (Canada), Mahmood Awãn and Mazhar Tirmazi (England) made their mark, but they preferred to be part of the mainstream Punjabi literature and not to be ‘pigeon holed as diaspora writers’.”

Canada-based journalist and Punjabi columnist Bakhshinder Singh says that a lot is being produced by the writers settled abroad but it depends on the ‘dollar power’ of the writers ­ if they can afford the publication with their own money. “Good writing is less as compared to the quantity,” he said.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Author

I P Singh is special correspondent at The Times of India, Jalandhar. He covers news in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts, and writes on politics, environmental issues, heritage preservation and contemporary trends. He specializes in deciphering religio-political peculiarities and complexities of Punjab.

I P Singh is special correspondent at The Times of India, Jalandhar. He covers news in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts, and writes on politic. . .

Author

I P Singh is special correspondent at The Times of India, Jalandhar. He covers news in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts, and writes on politics, environmental issues, heritage preservation and contemporary trends. He specializes in deciphering religio-political peculiarities and complexities of Punjab.

I P Singh is special correspondent at The Times of India, Jalandhar. He covers news in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts, and writes on politic. . .